This is the second renewal application of a NHLBI-supported Minority Institutional Research Training Program administered by the Department of Microbiology at Meharry Medical College (MMC). The proposed program will provide support for eight predoctoral trainees per year and will be conducted by 25 core faculty members at MMC and Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VCUM), with additional mentors from VUMC who are not listed as core faculty. Research training will focus on cell and molecular biological, genetic, and microbiological and immunological approaches to elucidate mechanisms whereby genetic predisposition, trauma, and infectious disease can cause cardiovascular and hematologic disease. The Program Director, Dr. Shirley B. Russell, Chairperson of the Department of Microbiology at MMC, will be responsible for the overall direction of the program. She will be assisted by two associate directors, one at MMC , and one at VUMC, an Internal Advisory Committee consisting of faculty from MMC and VUMC, and an External Advisory Committee. Students in the program will meet the Ph.D. requirements of the Graduate Program at MMC and the requirements of one of the three Ph.D. tracks in the Department of Microbiology, those being: 1) microbiology and immunology; 2) cell and molecular biology; 3) genetics. Each trainee's Committee on Instruction will include members of the MMC faculty and a faculty mentor from VUMC. In addition each trainee will take at least one of their didactic courses at VUMC and participate in short-term research training there as needed. All trainees and faculty in the program will participate in a seminar series that include presentations by program participants and by visiting scientists. Faculty from MMC and VUMC will be involved jointly in recruitment, training, and evaluation of trainees in the program. In addition to mentors from VUMC scientists, from other research intensive institutions currently contribute to the training of students in the program. In the proposed program we will continue to encourage students to enhance their training by extensive interaction with other scientists both within and outside MMC and VUMC. The goals of the proposed training program will be enhanced by the increasing number of collaborative research and training programs at MMC and VUMC resulting from 1999 formation of a formal alliance between MMC and VUMC.